VA-ALERT: Free CHP in Prince William fails with tie vote

[OakRidgeStars]

VA-ALERT: Free CHP in Prince William fails with tie vote

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Last night the Prince William Board of Supervisors Chairman, Corey Stewart, fought hard to have Prince William drop their CHP fee down to $10 - which is a fee that the Circuit Court Clerk is REQUIRED to be charge under current law. (Senator Amanda Chase has a bill in the Senate to make the $10 fee optional, which would ultimately allow CHPs to be completely free. That bill advanced today and is headed to the Senate Floor.)

It was a surprisingly long battle at the meeting and, like Corey Stewart, Supervisor Pete Candland put up a determined and principled fight to pass the measure. Hats off to both Corey and Pete!

During the debate it was brought out that the Sheriff budgeted $75,000 to process CHPs, but Sheriff's real cost was only about half that number. The Sheriff testified that the rest of the money was used for other projects that had nothing to do with CHP issuance. I’m sure this happens in other localities, but it means that CHP holders are paying more than they should in Prince William County currently and the excessive charge is actually illegal. The law says that law enforcement is only allowed to charge what their cost is to run the background check up to a maximum of $35.

Supervisor Maureen Caddigan, who voted against the measure, said she had not heard from her constituents. Even though the vote is over for now, it may well come up again later. If Ms. Caddigan is your Supervisor, I urge you to contact her and tell her you want her to support any future attempt to remove the CHP fees. Here is her phone number: 703-792-4645

The measure died with a tied vote.

Voting pro-freedom:

Corey Stewart
Pete Candland
Ruth Anderson
Jeanine Lawson

Voting anti-freedom:

Maureen Caddigan
John Jenkins
Martin Nohe
Frank Principi

The issue may well come up again when the Board of Supervisors considers the 2017 budget. If you live in Prince William County, contact your Board of Supervisor member and either thank them for supporting the fee repeal or urge them to support the fee repeal when it comes up during the 2017 budget meetings.

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Other localities are looking to repeal their CHP fees. One will be doing so soon. Stay tuned!



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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org